Libya's prime minister-designate keeps new transitional government under wraps

Libya's new transitional government starts from a much more comfortable position than its predecessor, the UN-backed Government of National Accord led by Fayez al-Sarraj, did. In his case, despite the support of the UN and other countries, a fracture in the international community could be observed from the outset, which ended up being visible on the ground, with two sides totally at loggerheads over political and military power.

In contrast, this new stage is opening with the unanimous support of the international community, including those actors that have been supporting one side or the other in the conflict, such as Russia, Turkey and Egypt. All of them have applauded last Friday's election in which Mohammad Younes Menfi will head the country and Abdul Hamid Dbeiba the government.

It is an unnamed organisation chart that Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeiba sent to the heads of the Presidential Council and Parliament on Thursday 25 February. He told a press conference in Tripoli that his government formation was ready, but that the elected members would only be revealed to parliament. A parliamentary session to give confidence to the future government will be held in a few days' time, but differences remain among MPs over the protocol and venue of the meeting. "We are ready to send the names, but first we must consult among ourselves and examine the candidates meticulously. We are going through critical times and we are aware that the chosen cabinet must genuinely achieve national unity, seeking consensus and reconciliation," he said without specifying dates or suggesting names.

According to the roadmap established by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum last November in Tunis, parliament has 21 days to hold a plenary session and vote confidence in the government. If this is not possible, the composition of the government is presented to the member of the Political Dialogue Forum, who adopts it. However, the deadline for the formation of the new transitional National Unity Government that is to lead Libya to elections expired at midnight without Prime Minister-designate Abul Hamid Dbeiba proposing a cabinet and amid growing uncertainty over the future of the UN-led reconciliation process.

A task that is far from simple and for which the new executive will be formed within 21 days of the vote in Switzerland. It will also have an additional 21 days to obtain Parliament's vote of confidence. A period of nearly a month and a half that will not be easy and that must lay the foundations for the reconstruction of a country that has been mired in a civil war for seven years, making the formation of this new government extremely complicated.

It should be recalled that Libyan MPs are still divided over the place and the agenda for a plenary session to vote on confidence in the government. Split in two, with one parliament meeting in Tobruk and the other in Tripoli, the Libyan legislature has not been able to agree on a city to hold a plenary session.

Abdul Hamid Dbeiba, the Libyan prime minister, wants to give his government the best chance of being accepted. The distribution of anonymous portfolios is intended to leave the door open for further debate in parliament. This discretion is considered vital in a country torn by infighting. Dbeiba also does not reveal the number of his ministers, who will be "specialists" chosen with "a concern for regional balance" with respect to sovereignty portfolios. However, some names have already been leaked and his government will represent all political and social components, with special attention to the participation of women. He assured that these criteria are in line with the deadline and the conditions set by the UN - which requires 30% women and the inclusion of new generations - and that the names of the future ministers will be revealed by the Parliament itself during the session it must hold to ratify the procedure and positions.

In addition to Menfi as president of the Presidency Council, a body completed by Abdullah Hussein al-Lafi and Mossa al-Koni, the new transitional government has the businessman Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeiba as prime minister. The ultimate goal is to try to meet the expectations of Libyans, who are suffering from cash and fuel shortages, electricity cuts and runaway inflation. Meanwhile, Libyan society, despite having significant oil reserves, has had to suffer the devastation of years of war, with major supply problems, power and transport cuts and a continuing deterioration in the economic situation in which they live.

Libya, which last week marked the tenth anniversary of the uprising that led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, is indeed in chaos, undermined by political divisions. However, the fall of Gaddafi did not bring the longed-for democracy, nor an improvement in the economic situation that the young and not-so-young people who took to the streets of Tripoli and other Libyan cities were demanding. Libya was plunged into an instability that none of the political attempts in the following years were able to reverse. The struggle for power between the different factions that emerged after the fall of Gaddafi deepened the fracture of a country that is now practically split in half, with a southern region that is on its own.

The two sides in the conflict, three if we count the southern tribes, have made progress in negotiations in recent months to reach a transitional agreement and bring an end to this decade of chaos and war. Optimism during the early stages was contained. Stéphanie Williams, the person in charge of facilitating the successive meetings between representatives from different spheres and with different objectives, was the umpteenth UN envoy for Libya, so nothing seemed to suggest that she would be any more successful than her predecessors.

Libya is thus celebrating the tenth anniversary of the fall of Gaddafi with a more hopeful future than ever, with the possibility that the country's unification and stability will allow it to rebuild the country thanks to its energy wealth, an element whose control has always been a source of dispute, and which has even been coveted by the terrorist presence that for several years during this decade also played an important role in the conflict.